Since February 2024, the World Watch Cyber Threat Intelligence team has been working on an extensive study of the private and public relationships within the Chinese cyber offensive ecosystem. This includes: An online map showcasing the links between 300+ entities; Historical context on the Chinese state entities dedicated to cyber offensive operations; An analysis of the role of universities and private companies in terms of capacity building; A focus on the ecosystem facilitating the acquisition of vulnerabilities for government use in cyber espionage campaigns.
Emerging Details of Chinese Hack Leave U.S. Officials Increasingly Concerned
Leaders of the big telecommunications companies were summoned to the White House to discuss strategies for overhauling the security of the nation’s telecommunications networks amid growing alarm at the scope of a Chinese hack.
China-Nexus TAG-112 Compromises Tibetan Websites to Distribute Cobalt Strike
In a recent cyber campaign, the Chinese state-sponsored threat group TAG-112 compromised two Tibetan websites, Tibet Post and Gyudmed Tantric University, to deliver the Cobalt Strike malware. Recorded Future’s Insikt Group discovered that the attackers embedded malicious JavaScript in these sites, which spoofed a TLS certificate error to trick visitors into downloading a disguised security certificate. This malware, often used by threat actors for remote access and post-exploitation, highlights a continued cyber-espionage focus on Tibetan entities. TAG-112’s infrastructure, concealed using Cloudflare, links this campaign to other China-sponsored operations, particularly TAG-102 (Evasive Panda).
Microsoft shares latest intelligence on North Korean and Chinese threat actors at CYBERWARCON | Microsoft Security Blog
At CYBERWARCON 2024, Microsoft Threat Intelligence analysts will share research and insights on North Korean and Chinese threat actors representing years of threat actor tracking, infrastructure monitoring and disruption, and their attack tooling.
T-Mobile confirms it was hacked in recent wave of telecom breaches
T-Mobile confirms it was hacked in the wave of recently reported telecom breaches conducted by Chinese threat actors to gain access to private communications, call records, and law enforcement information requests.
China's Volt Typhoon breached Singtel, reports say
Chinese government cyberspies Volt Typhoon reportedly breached Singapore Telecommunications over the summer as part of their ongoing attacks against critical infrastructure operators. The digital break-in was discovered in June, according to Bloomberg, citing "two people familiar with the matter" who told the news outlet that the Singtel breach was "a test run by China for further hacks against US telecommunications companies."
Inside Sophos' 5-Year War With the Chinese Hackers Hijacking Its Devices
Sophos went so far as to plant surveillance “implants” on its own devices to catch the hackers at work—and in doing so, revealed a glimpse into China's R&D pipeline of intrusion techniques.
Exclusive: Chinese researchers develop AI model for military use on back of Meta's Llama
Papers show China reworked Llama model for military tool China's top PLA-linked Academy of Military Science involved Meta says PLA 'unauthorised' to use Llama model * Pentagon says it is monitoring competitors' AI capabilities
Inside the Open Directory of the “You Dun” Threat Group
Analysis of an open directory found a Chinese speaking threat actor’s toolkit and history of activity. The threat actor displayed extensive scanning and exploitation using WebLogicScan, Vulmap, and Xray, targeting organizations in South Korea, China, Thailand, Taiwan, and Iran. The Viper C2 framework was present as well as a Cobalt Strike kit which included TaoWu and Ladon extensions. * The Leaked LockBit 3 builder was used to create a LockBit payload with a custom ransom note that included reference to a Telegram group which we investigated further in the report.
Chinese Hackers Are Said to Have Targeted Phones Used by Trump and Vance
The targeting of the Republican presidential ticket’s phones is part of what appears to be a wide-ranging effort to gather information about American leaders.
Chinese APT Abuses VSCode to Target Government in Asia
A first in our telemetry: Chinese APT Stately Taurus uses Visual Studio Code to maintain a reverse shell in victims' environments for Southeast Asian espionage. A first in our telemetry: Chinese APT Stately Taurus uses Visual Studio Code to maintain a reverse shell in victims' environments for Southeast Asian espionage.
Routers from China-based TP-Link a national security threat, US lawmakers claim
The two members of Congress called on the Commerce Department to investigate risks related to TP-Link routers amid concerns over state-backed Chinese hacking operations.
Germany to ban Chinese companies' components from core parts of its 5G networks | AP News
Germany's top security official says the country will bar the use of critical components made by Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE in core parts of its 5G networks in two steps starting in 2026.
In China, AI transformed Ukrainian YouTuber into a Russian
Olga Loiek, a University of Pennsylvania student was looking for an audience on the internet – just not like this. Shortly after launching a YouTube channel in November last year, Loiek, a 21-year-old from Ukraine, found her image had been taken and spun through artificial intelligence to create alter egos on Chinese social media platforms. Her digital doppelgangers - like "Natasha" - claimed to be Russian women fluent in Chinese who wanted to thank China for its support of Russia and make a little money on the side selling products such as Russian candies.
entagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic
The U.S. military launched a clandestine program amid the COVID crisis to discredit China’s Sinovac inoculation – payback for Beijing’s efforts to blame Washington for the pandemic. One target: the Filipino public. Health experts say the gambit was indefensible and put innocent lives at risk.
China: Declaration by the Minister for Foreign Affairs on behalf of the Belgian Government urging Chinese authorities to take action against malicious cyber activities undertaken by Chinese actors
Declaration by the Minister for Foreign Affairs on behalf of the Belgian Government urging Chinese authorities to take action against malicious cyber activities undertaken by Chinese actors.
People’s Republic of China State-Sponsored Cyber Actors Exploit Network Providers and Devices
Best Practices • Apply patches as soon as possible • Disable unnecessary ports and protocols • Replace end-of-life infrastructure • Implement a centralized patch management system
Chinese hackers abuse VLC Media Player to launch malware loader
Security researchers have uncovered a long-running malicious campaign from hackers associated with the Chinese government who are using VLC Media Player to launch a custom malware loader.
Operators of 911 S5 residential proxy service subjected to US sanctions
Chinese nationals Yunhe Wang, Jingping Liu, and Yanni Zheng have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for operating the residential proxy service 911 S5, which was a botnet comprised of over 19 million residential IP addresses that had been used to support various cybercrime groups' COVID-19 relief scams and bomb threats, Ars Technica reports.
Chinese network behind one of world’s ‘largest online scams’
More than 800,000 people in Europe and the US appear to have been duped into sharing card details and other sensitive personal data with a vast network of fake online designer shops apparently operated from China.